This is the initial project I (did/am doing) for my design history class. It's due today with the following paper, so wish me luck. P.S. It's using my irl initials, not the initials for the name I'd prefer to be called by: Kinta Nara.






Richard M. Thomas III
Design History 120-200
April 8th, 2017
RMT3 Initial Project: Personal Monogram
During this semester, we read about the Vienna Secession. In that section, we learned about the personal monograms that the various Secession artists created. Here I will explain why my modern day monogram is aesthetically pleasing, effective at communicating a piece is mine, and historically accurate for that design period.
What makes this monogram aesthetically pleasing is the complex simplicity. At first, when you lay eyes on it, it has an appealingly simple design of rectangles and lines. After a closer look, you start to make out the letters, trying to place what they are among the abstract design. Afterward, once you find them, it once again becomes a simple design of four characters placed together. The image becomes an intriguing puzzle with an implied, and possibly subliminal, spiral calling you in like someone snapping their fingers in your ears. Once you’re caught, you go from curious, to appeased, to confused, to confident throughout the transcendence of understanding the piece. The use of mostly vertical rectangles with a single horizontal rectangle leaves for many an inquiry, this and the abstract shapes can be extremely intriguing, as well as distracting for many of the modern day viewers.
All of the Vienna Secession personal monograms are at least somewhat abstracted, with many being unidentifiable at first. The main goal of the Vienna Secession personal monograms is to identify the artist, a “trendy identifier” as Mindy tells us (Webster “History and Etiquette of the Monogram.”). My personal monogram has an appealing look and can be used to identify myself.
Richard Luksch and Felic. Prh. V. Myrbach both have some type of imagery in their personal monograms (Sophietabonehistory “The Vienna Secession.”). I didn’t consciously plan to put said imagery in there, but that’s where the transcending subconscious takes over. If you notice there is a fist created from the rectangles. This represents our strength and will as designers. Whatever the world throws at us we can make an appealing counter. We shall be the transcendence to true beauty, and this shall be the first stepping stone: the struggles of the study, and the strength represented by this icon!
Many of the examples I can find of Vienna Secession personal monograms use linear and curved designs that are either bordered by a square or fit inside one. My creation can easily fit inside of a square if one was applied.
An argument can be made here that mine doesn’t exactly fit into a square. Here is an example of one that doesn’t fit into a square, yet a rectangle (Robins “Beautiful Work from the Vienna Secession.”). Someone could say that it’s too unrecognizable, or too abstract, therefore invalid. The Ernst Stöhr example from ... only uses lines connected to make an abstract image that’s unguessable without the proper context (Meggs 238).
In noticing the “W” that’s supposed to be a “3” is a point that makes it look errored, but the Elena Luksch example (Sophietabonehistory “The Vienna Secession.”) is abstracted in a way that I see a “G” and an “M” long before I notice the “L”. That “M” is just a sideways “E”, giving us the “L” and “E” that we’d expect, such is what looks like a “W” in mine is a “3”.
Now you understand how my personal monogram is appealing to the eye, represents me, and is accurate to the Vienna Secession personal monograms. You have also learned of the ways I interpret this piece. Now find how it speaks to you.




Works Cited
Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. Fifth ed. Hoboken: Wiley, 2016. Print.
Robins, Sarah. "Beautiful Work from the Vienna Secession." Paste. Blogger, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.
Sophietabonehistory. "The Vienna Secession." History of Art. Wordpress.com, 03 Feb. 2016. Web. 08 Apr. 2017.
Webster, Mandy. "History and Etiquette of the Monogram." Knot The Groom - Wedding Accessories for the Bride-To-Be! KnotTheGroom.com, 2012. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.